Progress Software names chairman, CFO

BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) -- Progress Software Corp. announced Monday that its board has elected Philip Pead as non-executive chairman of the board. The business software company also appointed Melissa Cruz as chief financial officer.

As chairman, Pead succeeds Michael Mark, who will remain on the board. Pead has served on the board since July 2011.

Cruz replaces Charlie Wagner, who left the company in March. The company said Cruz is a 28-year veteran of the technology industry. She has worked as chief financial officer at number of software companies, including health care software company Picis, data center software company BladeLogic and network security software company Concord Communications.

Benchmark analyst Mark Schappel said in a research note that the new CFO selection should be neutral for the stock for now but will help the company's operations in the long run.

Cruz will have to help the company execute the new strategic plan it announced in late April, which includes refocusing on its application development roots, the analyst said. He reiterated a buy rating on the stock.

Shares of the Bedford, Mass.-based company fell 20 cents to $19.62 in afternoon trading. They are down 20 percent since late March.

Rolls-Royce said its new Trent engine has powered a Boeing 787 Dreamliner in the air for the first time during a flight from Boeing Field Wednesday. The Trent 1000 TEN engine – TEN stands for thrust, efficiency and new technology – has been picked to power the first test flight of the Boeing 787-10 version of the Dreamliner next year, Rolls Royce North America spokesman Joel Reuter said. Wednesday's test flight took a Boeing 787-8 to an altitude of 43,000 feet and speeds near Mach 0.85 (Mach 1 is the speed of sound). Tests included in-flight restart performance and engine handling, Rolls-Royce said in a statement. The Trent 1000 powered the first Dreamliner 787-8 into service in 2011 and the

Conventional wisdom dispensed by financial planners about taking Social Security largely boils down to this: Wait as long as you can. Forty-eight percent of women and 42 percent of men who claimed benefits in 2013 did so at 62, which is the most popular age to start getting Social Security. Part of the reason is that, in some circumstances, waiting simply doesn’t make sense, “The decision on when to start Social Security depends on factors such as how long you expect to live, cash flow needs and marital status,” says Daniel Galli, a certified financial planner in Norwell, Massachusetts.

Sears reported mounting losses on Thursday and acknowledged that the company has "fallen short" of expectations for a recovery. Same-store sales dropped 7.4%, including a 10% decrease at Sears stores and a 4.4% decrease at Kmart stores. Sears' cash and equivalents fell 12% to $258 million in the period.

Are you behind on saving for retirement? Even if you don’t know what counts as "behind," you're likely to need to step up your efforts to build your nest egg. A June 2015 Government Accountability Office analysis found that that average Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 have accrued about $104,000 in retirement savings. Sound like a lot? Not when you realize that sum would translate into a $310 monthly payment if your money were invested in a lifetime annuity. Even if you're far from that age bracket, let this serve as a wake up call. You don’t want to stop working without enough money to live on. And what better time than the beginning of a new year to make a resolution that you’re going

The top court in China has ruled in favour of former Chicago Bulls player Michael Jordan, allowing him the rights to the Chinese version of his name. Jordan in 2012 filed the lawsuit against Qiaodan Sports, saying the company had built its business around his Chinese name and his jersey number 23 without his permission. In his lawsuit, Jordan's lawyers argued that the company had damaged his legal rights to his name and asked that its trademark registrations be removed.

(Flickr / kristina dymond) The slow and steady decline of retail that's shuttering department stores and putting malls out of business is also taking a toll on Starbucks.
"We can't hide behind the fact that there is a seismic change that we're experiencing

After Chyna (real name Angela Renée White), 28, filed to legally trademark her name as “Angela Renée Kardashian” to use while working in entertainment and on her social media, the sisters’ — Kim, Kourtney and Khloé Kardashian — companies opposed the request. “The Kardashians, like Angela and my other clients are very protective of our marks, I think for us this is going to be a clear case win, because it’s actually her name, it’s not a poaching.

Ducati North America CEO Jason Chinnock discusses the state of the motorcycle industry on Lunch Break with Tanya Rivero and reveals the company's new $80,000 Superleggera, the fastest twin-cylinder motorcycle in history. Photo: Ducati

U.S. home values rose again in October, and a handful of states reported increases exceeded the national average.
Housing prices increased 6.7 percent in October compared to the same month a year ago, according to the latest figures from CoreLogic. Home

If you dig through the troves of financial advice out there, you're sure to find contradictory guidance. "Those two pieces of advice, if you follow them, will destroy your financial life," he told Business Insider during a Facebook Live.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is poised to meet non-OPEC nations in Vienna on Saturday with the hope that they will also agree to follow the cartel and cut supply for the first time since 2008. At their meeting last month , OPEC pledged to cut oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day (b/d) from January 2017 and the 14-member cartel hopes non-OPEC nations can also agree to limit supply to further prop up oil prices. Russia has said it is prepared to commit to a 300,000 b/d production cut which should, in theory, mean all of the other non-OPEC countries combined would only have to match Russia's pledge in order for OPEC to hit its target.

Is it harassment to ask someone out after a job interview? Katarina Batina, who is a design lead at Artsy, a resource for art collecting and education, according to her Twitter account, recently tweeted a message she received from a potential employee.

As the weekend approaches, the Dow (Dow Jones Global Indexes: .DJI) celebrates another new high and traders are afraid to get in the way of a steamroller market even as many stocks seem to be pricey. The Dow closed up 65 points Thursday, at 19,614, in its 19th gain in 23 sessions, and its 13th new high since Election Day. Paul Hickey, co-founder of Bespoke, said he is watching the net new highs in the S&P 500, and at 18.6 percent Wednesday they were at the highest level since late 2014.

With policies turning away from regulatory creep on big business, and toward pro-business initiatives, Lee said investors should look at banks (NYSE Arca: XLF), energy (NYSE Arca: XLE), tech (NYSE Arca: XLK) and telecoms (NYSE Arca: XTL). While the technology sector has not performed well in the past couple of months — the sector ETF XLK (NYSE Arca: XLK) is up less than 1 percent this quarter — Lee said historical patterns may hold optimistic signals.

Three-quarters of companies plan to give employees a cash bonus this year , up from 67 percent last year, according to a report from staffing firm Accounting Principals. "Targeting a big whack of money towards a single goal — like paying down debt, a vacation, retirement — will be more gratifying than the drip, drip of steady saving," said Meg Bartelt, a financial planner and founder of Flow Financial Planning in Bellingham, Washington. Next, Bartelt suggests fully stocking your emergency fund, which can prevent you from digging yourself into more debt, if an unexpected cost were to come up.

Dec.08 -- Bruin Sports Capital founder and CEO George Pyne discusses TV ratings for National Football League games, slowing growth at ESPN and the new media model for coverage of athletes. He speaks with Scarlet Fu on “What’d You Miss?”

A company with a history of oil field-related spills in North Dakota and Montana is being hampered by winter weather in its cleanup of a "significant" pipeline break that leaked crude oil into a tributary of the Little Missouri River in western North Dakota, a regulator said Thursday. Bill Suess, an environmental scientist with the North Dakota Health Department, said the Belle Fourche Pipeline Co. spill was discovered Monday by a landowner near Belfield. The cause of the leak is under investigation and the amount of the spill is unknown, in part because of recent blizzards and subzero temperatures throughout North Dakota, he said. The spill in the creek is about 20 miles upstream of the Little Missouri River.

The stock of Southwest Airlines had investors salivating on Wednesday as transports surged. Yet according to CEO Gary Kelly, the secret sauce to the company's competitiveness is its culture. "Our people are fantastic, it really is what sets us apart competitively in the industry and they are the ones that have made Southwest so successful," Kelly told "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer. Southwest began operating in 1972, and during the span of its 45-year history, the company has never a single layoff or pay cut for any employee. It has also been profitable every year since its first full year of operation. "There is a lot to a culture, and it's easier to have a strong culture if you feel like you're

Alaska Airlines has removed its last major hurdle to buying Virgin America. Alaska said Wednesday it agreed to settle a private antitrust lawsuit that threatened to hold up its $2.6 billion purchase of Virgin America. Seattle-based Alaska did not disclose terms of the settlement, which came days before a trial on the lawsuit was scheduled to begin in federal district court in San Francisco. The settlement also came a day after the U.S. Justice Department approved the purchase, but only after Alaska agreed to scale back a partnership it has with American Airlines on some routes. The deal will make Alaska the nation's fifth-biggest airline, leapfrogging over JetBlue Airways Corp., which also tried

Reportedly, Microsoft Corporation MSFT closed the acquisition of professional networking platform LinkedIn Corporation LNKD on Thursday for $26.2 billion. In a blog post, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that the acquisition will bring together two of the world’s leading platforms – a professional cloud and a professional network.

China is to halve the cash machine limit for certain cardholders visiting the gambling enclave of Macau, in what analysts said was its latest effort to curb massive capital outflows caused by the falling yuan. From Saturday, punters using the UnionPay system -- around half of those visiting the city from the mainland -- will only be able to get 5,000 patacas (around $600) each time they go to the ATM, the Monetary Authority of Macao said. The move was to "further strengthen the measures to regulate Mainland bank card cash withdrawals," it said.

A Danish court says Apple has violated a local consumer law by giving a refurbished iPhone with used components in replacement for a new one that wasn't working properly. The Glostrup City Court says consumer David Lysgaard "had a legitimate expectation" to receive a new product, adding the replacement smartphone "can't be qualified as a brand new phone." Under Danish consumer laws, a dysfunctional and unfixable product should be replaced with a new equivalent product or the money should be refunded. The court of law said Friday that Lysgaard had the right to declare the purchase voided and get his money back after several complaints about problems with his iPhone 4 he bought in June 2011. Apple

The dollar climbed to the highest level in 10 months against the yen as its best run since 2014 showed little signs of abating.The currency has advanced every week since the election of Donald Trump on Nov. 8, and climbed through 115 yen on Friday, a

The following factors are likely to influence Malaysian palm oil futures and other vegetable oil
markets.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Malaysian palm oil futures fell on Thursday to a second consecutive day of losses, tracking
weaker-performing rival oils on the Chicago